Thursday, 28 May 2009

This past weekend, the kids found a lizard crawling/sitting on the side of the house. The boys were too scared to catch it, so Taliah grabbed it. She was soooo excited that she actually caught it and that it wasn't as gross and 'slimy' and icky as it seemed (I don't know if I would have grabbed it like that ;-), hehe). In any case, Becks and Taliah went out and got a terrarium and Taliah got to name the lizard. She calls it Liz (hopefully it's not a 'he' and won't get offended). Well, we knew Taliah is the tomboy of the family - she loves climbing trees, catching bugs and now lizards. She is usually the first one to try new things - a little adventuress! In fact she takes after her godmother - Auntie Lia!

Anyways, the kids have been catching ants, earwigs, flies and roly-poly's (pill bugs) to feed the lizard. And today we went to the pet store and got some meal worms and crickets as a special treat for little ole Liz.

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

This past weekend, the kids found a lizard crawling/sitting on the side of the house. The boys were too scared to catch it, so Taliah grabbed it. She was soooo excited that she actually caught it and that it wasn't as gross and 'slimy' and icky as it seemed (I don't know if I would have grabbed it like that ;-), hehe). In any case, Becks and Taliah went out and got a terrarium and Taliah got to name the lizard. She calls it Liz (hopefully it's not a 'he' and won't get offended). Well, we knew Taliah is the tomboy of the family - she loves climbing trees, catching bugs and now lizards. She is usually the first one to try new things - a little adventuress! In fact she takes after her godmother - Auntie Lia!

Anyways, the kids have been catching ants, earwigs, flies and roly-poly's (pill bugs) to feed the lizard. And today we went to the pet store and got some meal worms and crickets as a special treat for little ole Liz.

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

This past week, Jesaiah and Taliah had to present their science research projects at the school science fair. Jesaiah did his research on 'friction' - what it is, how it works, what has more friction, etc. And Taliah did hers on the 'surface tension of water' - again, what it is, how it works and how you can see it. I got the opportunity to help them with this - science is right up my alley! I have to admit it was really fun - i enjoy science a lot. Anyways, they did really well on their research and the teachers (and other students) were impressed with their work. And it was fun to see the projects from the other kids at the school - there were some truly impressive ones!

So, here are a few fotos of Jesaiah and Taliah doing their research...

Talk about 'sticky' rice!

What has more friction - smooth plastic, rubber or sandpaper??

Fill 'er up!

My cup runneth over!

Cutting water?!

Finished products...

and Taliah's

Random...'hey take my picture too Daddy!'Zachie and his 'sleeping-bag'.

This past week, Jesaiah and Taliah had to present their science research projects at the school science fair. Jesaiah did his research on 'friction' - what it is, how it works, what has more friction, etc. And Taliah did hers on the 'surface tension of water' - again, what it is, how it works and how you can see it. I got the opportunity to help them with this - science is right up my alley! I have to admit it was really fun - i enjoy science a lot. Anyways, they did really well on their research and the teachers (and other students) were impressed with their work. And it was fun to see the projects from the other kids at the school - there were some truly impressive ones!

So, here are a few fotos of Jesaiah and Taliah doing their research...

Talk about 'sticky' rice!

What has more friction - smooth plastic, rubber or sandpaper??

Fill 'er up!

My cup runneth over!

Cutting water?!

Finished products...

and Taliah's

Random...'hey take my picture too Daddy!'Zachie and his 'sleeping-bag'.

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

This last weekend, Jesaiah and I got away for a quick overnight camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park in the desert beyond Palm Springs. It was a great trip, just Jesaiah and I - we were able to do many fun things. On the first day, we saw 2 rattlesnakes, not more than 3 feet from our path. On the second day, we saw another snake as we were in a cactus garden, again not more than a couple feet from us. It's spring, so the reptiles are out in force to mate and enjoy the warmth.

We were also able to do some rock-climbing - Jesaiah surprised himself by climbing a rock that was over 2 stories high (20 feet or so up). He didn't think he could do it, but with a little exhortation and guidance, he easily climbed to the top and even more impressive, climbed back down (much harder!). We also did a lot of bouldering on some smaller and shorter boulders - lots of fun! We both loved that!

We also visited a huge Cholla (not chollo) cactus garden, a rock that has been wind-blasted into the shape of a skull, drove to the highest viewpoint in the park to look down into the Coachella Valley, hiked 4 miles round-trip to an original goldmine - all this and much more crammed into a day and a half!

But my favorite part and the main reason for this trip was to give Jesaiah undivided time for conversations. We spent about 4 hours sitting around the fire-pit, splitting wood for kindling, making the fire and roasting hot dogs, corn and marshmallows - all the while talking about anything and everything - both fun stuff and more 'meaning of life' topics.. Jesaiah learned a very practical spiritual lesson from the embers and coals. He saw that when he takes a red-hot ember out of the bed of coals, it soon dies down and turns black and cold. He learned that all believers 'burn' hotter when they stay together, but when they try to go it alone, they soon burn out and turn cold. He applied that to 2 of his friends from school who are Christians, but don't go to church and don't 'act like Christians' (his words). And we prayed for them on the spot!

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

This last weekend, Jesaiah and I got away for a quick overnight camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park in the desert beyond Palm Springs. It was a great trip, just Jesaiah and I - we were able to do many fun things. On the first day, we saw 2 rattlesnakes, not more than 3 feet from our path. On the second day, we saw another snake as we were in a cactus garden, again not more than a couple feet from us. It's spring, so the reptiles are out in force to mate and enjoy the warmth.

We were also able to do some rock-climbing - Jesaiah surprised himself by climbing a rock that was over 2 stories high (20 feet or so up). He didn't think he could do it, but with a little exhortation and guidance, he easily climbed to the top and even more impressive, climbed back down (much harder!). We also did a lot of bouldering on some smaller and shorter boulders - lots of fun! We both loved that!

We also visited a huge Cholla (not chollo) cactus garden, a rock that has been wind-blasted into the shape of a skull, drove to the highest viewpoint in the park to look down into the Coachella Valley, hiked 4 miles round-trip to an original goldmine - all this and much more crammed into a day and a half!

But my favorite part and the main reason for this trip was to give Jesaiah undivided time for conversations. We spent about 4 hours sitting around the fire-pit, splitting wood for kindling, making the fire and roasting hot dogs, corn and marshmallows - all the while talking about anything and everything - both fun stuff and more 'meaning of life' topics.. Jesaiah learned a very practical spiritual lesson from the embers and coals. He saw that when he takes a red-hot ember out of the bed of coals, it soon dies down and turns black and cold. He learned that all believers 'burn' hotter when they stay together, but when they try to go it alone, they soon burn out and turn cold. He applied that to 2 of his friends from school who are Christians, but don't go to church and don't 'act like Christians' (his words). And we prayed for them on the spot!